Scholarship & Research
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/1
Browse
14 results
Search Results
Item The ABCs of STEM in preschool television programming: a case-study analysis of the best methods to introduce scientific subject matter into preschool-aged television programming(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2022) Sauer, Christina Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dennis AigA child's natural inclination to explore the world around him/her has been a fundamental part of child development theory. From 2- to 5-years-old, or preschool-aged, children are 'tiny scientists' who are capable of understanding basic concepts of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Through the examination of child development studies and children's educational programming history with an analysis of three renowned educational television programs for the preschool audience, this paper creates a framework for developing preschool television programming with STEM content. A concluding discussion details how the Framework is then implemented in the creation of a film 'Discovery Camp: Busy Bees Make Honey'.Item How do inquiry-focused nature walks influence pre-school students' understanding of their environment, engagement in nature, and emotional regulation?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Kakuk, Camas S.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg FrancisThe purpose of this study is to discover whether there is measurable value in adding elements of nature school philosophy to a traditional Montessori preschool, even in an imperfect or transitional environment. Do inquiry-focused nature walks influence preschool students' understanding of their environment, engagement in nature, or emotional regulation? In this project I attempted to measure the impact of a daily inquiry walk, through several data streams: a parent survey, a nature inquiry checklist based on the NGSS kindergarten science standards, and by direct observation of nap and walk time and quality. Despite many setbacks and school closures, our initial findings suggest positive results in the areas of healthy sleep, knowledge and understanding of the natural world, and emotional and behavioral health.Item Impact of leadership on early childhood education program quality(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Barney, Norah Lee; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: William RuffThe evaluation of early childhood education programs includes focus on child outcomes and later academic success, but little is known about the impact of preschool leadership on early childhood education program quality. The purpose of this qualitative comparative case study was to investigate the relationship between early childhood leadership and preschool program quality among Preschool Development Grantees (PDG) in a rural northwest state. Two research questions were used to guide the study (1) how does a preschool leaders approach to leadership influence preschool program quality? (2) How does the instructional delivery model influence the leaders approach to program quality? Results from this study hope to continue to advance early childhood initiatives in the state and perhaps suggest a leadership model which leads to higher quality programs. This study also hopes to inform organizations that are planning on starting preschools within their community and the impact of program structure. There are two program structures examined in this study. The first is a preschool located in a K-12 building. The second is a mixed-delivery model of preschool and Head Start students located in one school. Two PDG sites were purposefully selected using Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) data. School leaders were interviewed and assessed using the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) which was used to gather multiple perspectives about each leader's behavior. Data analysis revealed three themes: the importance of relationships, leadership orientation, and leadership candor. Results indicate that some leaders are more transactional than transformational and that the structure of the program assisted with a better understanding of Child Guidance. Further study needs to be done on the history and background of preschool sites to determine the type of leader that is needed at the time. Also, a more in-depth broader study could be completed to examine how leadership affects high quality programs.Item Surgency: a holistic model(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Canen, Mara June; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rebecca BrookerPrevious examinations of the temperamental trait surgency have largely focused on single facets of the global construct rather than attempting to identify how- or if- individual facets truly converge to comprise a global trait. The current project tested a holistic model of surgency based on temperament theory (Rothbart & Derryberry, 1981) that used a multi-trait multimethod approach to integrate multiple domains of regulation and reacitivity. Four models were tested that included measures of physiological regulation, behavioral regulation, emotion regulation, and parent-reported temperament. A single model emerged that accounted for biological, behavioral, affective, and parent-reported, domains of surgency in 3.5 year old children. This model comprised high levels of positive affect, fidgeting, impulsivity, and RSA suppression loading onto a single latent factor of high surgency. This work contributes to the temperament literature by providing initial evidence for a holistic composite of surgency during early childhood that is consistent with classic temperament definitions of surgency.Item The evocative effect of children's physiologocial stress reactivity on intrusive parenting(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Najjar, Reema; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rebecca BrookerSelf-regulatory processes, such as effortful control, are important facets of development for children's long term adjustment. Effortful control is known to be influenced by biological processes that enable regulatory function. Specifically, better biological regulation is associated with better effortful control. The direction of environmental effects, however, is less clear. Although theoretical perspectives support the possibility that parent-child influences are bidirectional, studies of self-regulation -- both physiological regulation and effortful control -- have almost exclusively focused on a parent-to-child direction of effects. Almost no research has investigated the influence of children's physiological and behavioral regulation on parenting behaviors. My thesis explored one process by which physiological regulation, indexed through measures of neuroendocrine reactivity, and behavioral regulation, indexed as effortful control, may evoke intrusive behaviors in parents. I hypothesized that greater cortisol reactivity would predict lower levels of effortful control, which would subsequently predict greater intrusive parenting. I tested my hypothesis in a sample of preschool-aged children and their parents, capitalizing on a critical period for the development of self-regulation. Results indicate that cortisol reactivity did not work through effortful control to predict parent intrusiveness. However, effortful control did moderate the association between child cortisol reactivity and parent intrusiveness. Specifically, when children were high in effortful control, greater cortisol reactivity predicted greater intrusive parenting. This work sheds light the importance of considering bidirectional effects in the development of self-regulation in early childhood.Item Preschool food waste and nutrition behavior(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2017) Milodragovich, Allison Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Selena Ahmed; Carmen Byker (co-chair); Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed, Christine Lux and Chris Barbour were co-authors of the article, 'Mixed methods analysis of preschool plate waste and food preferences' submitted to the journal 'Journal of nutrition education and behavior' which is contained within this thesis.; Carmen Byker Shanks, Selena Ahmed, Christine Lux and Chris Barbour were co-authors of the article, 'Analysis of preschool nutrition behaviors' submitted to the journal 'Journal of nutrition education and behavior' which is contained within this thesis.While fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption is a key component of healthy diets, evidence demonstrates that preschool-aged children in the USA do not meet dietary recommendations for FVs. Preliminary research has shown children that children receive fifty to sixty-five percent of nutrients during the school day through child nutrition programs. Concurrently, children are not eating enough FVs at the same time. The primary objective is to quantify the amount of food waste that occurs in the CACFP utilized in a preschool setting. The secondary objective is to examine the effectiveness of a FV nutrition education program on decreasing the amount of food wasted. A cross-sectional and quasi-experimental research project was implemented to collect food waste and observational measurements at the following three-day intervals corresponding to a nutrition education intervention: (1) pre-education phase, (2) behavioral education phase, (3) personal education phase, and (4) post-education phase. Quantitative food waste measurements were conducted through direct weighing. A unique observational tool was developed, piloted, and implemented. Food preference data was collected through a commonly implemented child preference survey. Findings from the plate waste data indicate that 43.6% total waste occurred across all data collection time periods with vegetables being the most wasted food category with an average of 66% waste across all data collection periods. Compared to vegetables, fruit is wasted at a lower rate of 18.2% across all data collection periods. Serving waste is the primary source of waste for all food categories representing 80% of total waste, while plate waste represents 16 % of total waste. Plate waste across the nutrition education periods found significant (p < 0.05) differences between the pre-education phase amount of 10.8% and post-education phase amount of 4.6%. No significant differences were found between means of total and serving waste across the four data collection periods of the nutrition education. Observational measurements showed greater incidence of positive fruit behavior. Preference data found that children prefer fruits over vegetables. Findings have the potential to inform the CACFP as well as other food and nutrition programs that seek to support healthy eating habits among pre-school children while supporting sustainability.Item Influence of the home environment on preschool children as related to success in beginning reading(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1974) Miller, Bob (Robert Edward)Item A study to determine the degree of sex-role identification in pre-four year old children(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1968) Bateen, Robert JamesItem Pilot study involving clothing choices of preschool boys and their parents(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1970) Engelbach, Margaret LouiseItem Parent behaviors relating to social competency in a population of preschool children in Bozeman, Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1990) Johnston, Susan Cook